ULPA Vacuum Cleaner – How To Keep A Cleanroom Clean

Cleanroom operators face a variety of operational challenges, not the least of which is the ongoing battle to keep the cleanroom clean – a battle in which their number one weapon could be the ULPA Vacuum Cleaner.

The greatest challenge in cleaning a cleanroom and keeping a cleanroom clean (try saying that fast five times in a row) is removing particulate matter without spreading it around and contaminating everything inside the room.

While the air we breathe contains as many as 1 million particles under .5 µm in each and every cubic foot, a Class 100 cleanroom will be 10,000 times cleaner, with no more than 100 particles under .5 µm in each cubic foot.

According to an article in the September, 2008 issue of CleanRooms Magazine (yes, there really is such a magazine), there are about 121,000 cleanrooms throughout the world. In Asia alone (the largest market for cleanrooms), more than 1 million people work in cleanrooms every day. They can range in size from a few hundred square feet to large electronics assembly cleanrooms with footprints of 15-20,000 square feet.

Skin, clothes, hair, paper and almost anything else can be possible sources of particulate contamination in a cleanroom. That’s why cleanroom workers usually wear the so-called “bunny suits” – they seal up the body and don’t create any dust of their own. Of course, that’s also why they can be so uncomfortable to wear.

Most vacuum cleaners, when they exhaust the air that moves through them, send millions of particles including the same particles just vacuumed – back into the air. Even a HEPA filter vacuum gives off many large particles, so to clean a cleanroom, you need a specially-designed ULPA (Ultra Low Particulate Air) vacuum system.

So how do you clean the dust in a cleanroom? Simple – use a Goodway cleanroom ULPA vacuum cleaner. Using ULPA technology, it is certified 99.999% efficient down to .12 µm. Here are some other features to look for if you want or need a cleanroom vacuum.

Stainless steel construction

Pre-filter and ULPA filter

Small footprint for ease of movement

Stainless steel tools

As cleanrooms become more and more common, the need to clean them and keep them clean will just become that much more pressing.